Thirteen organisations working against poverty and for equality today welcomed an all-party Oireachtas Committee report recommending to the Minister for Social Protection

“…not to proceed with the proposals for a Single Working Age Payment … at this time because the necessary supports, activation opportunities and quality jobs to move into are not in place.”

(Report of the Joint Committee on Jobs, Social protection and Education on the Single Working Age Payment Proposal launched today.)

In a statement issued today, the EAPN Ireland Working Group on ‘Europe 2020’ agreed with the Committee’s view that a simplified system to replace job seekers allowance, disability allowance, one parent family payment, farm assist, blind pension and widow/widowers non-contributory pension would be desirable in principle.  However, as the Department has acknowledged, if introduced now without the necessary supports and services and in a context of job shortages, it is likely to lead to serious loss of income for people already most vulnerable to poverty, create new poverty traps and force people in part-time work and on low income out of work.

The Group supported the call on Minister Burton

“…to ensure that household incomes are not diminished as a result of the freeform or during the process…” and

“that any programme of social welfare reform must be driven by an explicit anti-poverty and gender equality objective”

Members expressed concern that the Minister had indicated that that a package of moves to the single social welfare payment for adults would be put to the Troika in late March.  They support the Committee’s proposal that

“a real and measurable commitment on both service provision and job creation should be given to the Troika in tandem with any proposals on the income element of social welfare reform”

The Group also complemented rapporteur Aengus O’Snodaigh, TD and the Committee on the process of drawing up this report, which involved a consultation with a wide range of civil society and on reaching all-party agreement in the group.

The full Committee report is available on the Oireachtas website.

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The European Anti-Poverty Network (EAPN) Ireland convenes this working group to ensure the implementation of the social inclusion and equality commitments of the Europe 2020 strategy.  It is made up of the following organisations:

• Age Action Ireland
• Congress Centres Network
• Disability Federation of Ireland
• Dublin Employment Pact
• EAPN Ireland
• Irish National Organisation of the Unemployed
• Irish Traveller Movement
• Migrant Rights Centre Ireland
• National Adult Literacy Agency
• National Youth Council of Ireland
• National Women’s Council of Ireland
• One Family
• OPEN Network of One Parent Organisations
• SIPTU

The focus of our submission is on the specific proposals in Budget 2012 to reduce the Disability Allowance for people with disabilities aged 18-24 years. The Working Group strongly believes that there should be no changes to the eligibility criteria or levels of the Disability Allowance. What is needed is an increase in services and supports and addressing the barriers facing people with disabilities in accessing jobs, training and education. Read Submission here

He paid tribute to the work of Anna Visser who has led an effective organisation through difficult times, along with the Board, staff  and members.  Anna has moved on to work for the Advocacy Initiative.

Wishing mebers and allies a happy new year, he continued “in the current difficult environment, the EAPN is needed more than ever to support the voice and interests of people affected by poverty in policy-making.  I look forward to working with you all for a more equal and inclusive Ireland and Europe”

Dramatic rise in inequality highlights that the burden is not being shared equally

30 November 2011: The latest report on income and poverty published today shows that inequality in Ireland has grown dramatically. The preliminary results from the Central Statistics Office Survey of Income and Living Conditions 2010 shows that the at-risk of poverty rate grew from 14.1% in 2009 to 15.8% in 2010. This is despite the fact that the level of income necessary to define a person as ‘at risk of poverty’ from approximately €231/week in 2009 to €207/week in 2010.

Other data also showed a sharp increase in income inequality with the gap between the top and bottom 20% of income earners increasing by 28% between 2009 and 2010.

The Survey also showed that the number of those in material deprivation, and therefore unable to afford 2 of the 11 basic necessities, rose from 17.1% in 2009 to 22.5% in 2010. This is an overall increase of almost two-thirds in those experiencing material deprivation from 2008. While material deprivation is mostly being experienced by those at the very bottom of the income scale there is also a dramatic increase in deprivation amongst those higher up the income ladder.

Those who were unemployed, lone parent households and those not at work due to illness or disability continued to be among those experiencing the highest levels of poverty while the poverty levels of those in work have risen considerably.

The Survey showed that the removal of social payments would skyrocket the 15.8% at-risk of poverty rate to a shocking 51% of the population. This demonstrates an increased dependency on social transfers compared to previous years and stands as a warning to the Government which has stated its intention to cut social payments in next week’s budget.

Paul Ginnell, Policy Officer with the European Anti-Poverty Network Ireland, stated that “this Survey clearly shows that those on the lowest end are faring much worse and that this group is rapidly growing. Polices are having a more detrimental impact on those worse off and this provides a stark reminder to the new Government of the impact of the different policy choices. Continuing the cuts to services and welfare supports and introducing regressive taxes such as a VAT increase and flat rate service charges will increase poverty while introducing progressive tax reform, initially focusing on taxing wealth, will produce more equitable outcomes”.

Notes

• For Full Preliminary CSO Survey of Income and Living Conditions Preliminary report see http://www.cso.ie/en/media/csoie/releasespublications/documents/silc/2010/prelimsilc_2010.pdf . This document also contains an explanation of the different measurement of poverty
• At-risk of poverty in the report refers to those living below a threshold of 60% of the national median income which in 2010 was approximately €207.57 per week.
• Material deprivation refers to those lacking at least two of 11 agreed items.
• Consistent Poverty refers to those who are at-risk of poverty and also experience material deprivation. Consistent poverty has risen from 4.2% in 2008 to 6.2% in 2010. The Government Poverty target is to reduce consistent poverty to between 2-4% in 2012 with the aim of eliminating it by 2016. The Government is currently in the process of revising its target.
• The Community Platform has recently published Paying our Way: Proposals for the Progressive reform of the Irish tax system which is available at http://communityplatform.ie/index.php?page=paying-our-way .

Contact details:

• Paul Ginnell, EAPN Ireland, 22 Great Strand Street, Dublin 1; Tel: 087-6402200; Email: paul@eapn.ie ; Website: www.eapn.ie

The Forum, which takes place in Rialto in Dublin, is the key moment in the year when the Government is expected to present its progress in delivering on its commitments to address poverty and social exclusion. These are outlined in the National Action Plan for Social Inclusion 2007-2016 and includes the overall goal to eliminate consistent poverty by 2016. However, even as early as 2009, consistent poverty had risen from 4.2% to 5.5%.

With the support of the Social Inclusion Division in the Department of Social Protection EAPN Ireland and the CWC have been holding meetings throughout the country in preparation for the Forum. At these meetings participants have highlighted that the crisis and many of the policies to address it have resulted in great difficulties for marginalised communities and groups. These include the closure of services, increased poverty, debt and unemployment with no real prospects for jobs. Another key issue was the closure or cuts to vital community organisations and supports.

Ann Irwin from the CWC states that “participants recognise the challenges faced by the Government but are clear that we are in an absolute social crisis and continued failures to protect vulnerable people and communities will embed poverty and exclusion in our society for decades to come”.

Paul Ginnell, Policy Officer with EAPN Ireland highlighted that ‘the Social Inclusion Forum must not be a talking shop and must be a serious opportunity for people experiencing poverty and social exclusion and their organisations to engage with the Governments on their commitments to addressing poverty and social exclusion. We are happy that the Minister for Social Protection will be present and hope that she seriously engages with the issues that will be raised.’

EAPN Ireland will also publish the latest edition of its Review to coincide with the Forum. The Review entitled ‘Progress Towards Europe 2020’ includes a report from workshops held in September looking at the Government’s commitments to reduce poverty and the reality for marginalised communities.

Notes:

• The Social Inclusion Forum is an annual event organised in the past by the National Economic and Social Forum (NESF) and now by the Social Inclusion Division, Department of Social Protection.
• Consistent Poverty: This refers to those people who are at risk-of poverty (living below 60% of median income) and also experience material deprivation (unable to afford 2 of 11 agreed items). Statistics are produced annually by the CSO in the Survey of Income and Living Conditions (SILC). The latest data is for 2009 with the next survey for 2010 due in November 2011. See http://www.cso.ie/releasespublications/documents/silc/current/silc.pdf